Posted on 06/02/2022 4:24:42 PM PDT by BEJ
What do the movies "Street Car Named Desire" and "Gone with the Wind" have in common?
They both won an Academy Award for Vivian Leigh, the protagonist in both movies. But there are even more striking similarities. Vivian Leigh (an English actress) basically plays the same character in both movies: a coquette-like, love-smitten Southern Belle. The only real difference is that as Scarlet O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" stood up to a harsh world, Blanch Dubois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" was brought down and crushed by the same world. Both characters revered landed property and the high manner of Southern society. Both movies center around the real but the illusory passion of romantic love that blossoms with youth. Where the spell of romantic love was eventually abandoned by Scarlet, after learning a harsh and important lesson in life, Blanch succumbed to its charms even to the point of madness. Avoiding the bitter realities of the world for the sake of make-believe, fairy tale love can put you in a nuthouse. This is where older damsels, who desperately cling to their amorous dreams and fading looks, can eventually end up.
There is a third movie that completes the Vivian Leigh theme and that is "Ship of Fools." Here she plays Mrs. Tredwell who is like Scarlet & Blanch at an even older age. Again the topic is romantic love and how older women despair and wish to be young again. It, too, has won awards but not an Academy Award.
The Vivian Leigh trilogy is a great lesson on life. I happened to stumble onto this actress, and I'm not sure how I did it -- possibly through another movie she was in. She has an amazing Southern accent for a British woman and plays her roles exquisitely. She, like Blanche Dubois, did suffer from mental illness. However, she has given an impressive performance and much to think about on the subject of romantic love.
I didn’t like either movie very much, but Streetcar was the worst of the two, as it was written by depressing, depraved Tennessee Williams and had the disgusting, over-hyped Marlon Brando in it.
Wow! Thoughts with you. R/J
“I don’t want to think about that today. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
Thanks for this thoughtful piece. I really enjoyed GWTW the several times that I have seen it. Don’t mind the naysayers here. And no I am not an Ivy League professor.
Not the foggiest, never seen either one.
33 dead. Street car vs gasoline truck. I was 10 years old. I’ll never forget.
They were both gothic romance set in times of upheaval. The writers were both Southern, a region of America that produces great writers (it’s too hot down here to not write something thoughtful).
The stories themselves can only be compared if you put Stanley up against Scarlett. Both knew what they wanted but couldn’t change enough to keep what they got.
Big Sam or Pork?
Game show loser: “Done with one hand”.
Desire Street is a mostly black neighborhood - at least it was before Katrina.
It was probably a mostly white neighborhood until about the 1960s.
-PJ
New Orleans streetcar circa 1940.
I love Undercover Blues.
STELLA!!!
“He’s the kind of man you have when the devils in you”
Both are long and very boring.
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